Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Moving along in our series of articles on Natural Dyes, and into the yellows, Weld , Reseda luteola, is one of the most historically important of the yellow natural dyes.

Wool Yarn Dyed with Weld, Mordant: Tin

Also know as dyer's rocket, dyer's weed, and yellow weed, Weld is a native of Eurasia.

It was in use as a dye by the first century B.C. and was introduced to North America by the Colonists.

It not only produces a beautiful butter yellow colors, but was also in over dyeing with indigo or woad to produce a color fast green. Because good greens are hard to produce using natural dyes, Weld became one of the most important dyes in the production of this color.

Grown from seeds, the thin long leaves grow from a rosette and the plant produces a spike for it's flower.

Even though it is considered an annual, but by accident, we were able to keep our Weld plants surviving the winter by planting them next to our clothes dryer vent.

They died off after the frost in the fall, but emerged from the roots the next spring.

These plants have lasted 3 summers and produced good dye material.

Weld Plants

The whole plant above the ground is used as a dye.

It can be used fresh or dried.

Simply tie a plant bundle with string and boil it in water to extract the dye.

If you are using chopped plant material, fashion a cloth tea bag , place the chopped material in the bag, tie tightly, and boil in water to extract the dye.

Also, depending on the time of year, we offer wool yarns dyed with Fustic, and dyed wool rovings .At times, we also offer wool roving that have been mordanted to enable you to natural dye your own rovings.

Natural dyes can also be used on silk and other animal fibers.

However, when used on plant fiber such as cotton, hemp, or flax, will yield more pastel colors.

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Sandalwoods are medium sized trees, that are of the same botanical family as European mistletoe, and like mistletoe, form a hemiparasitic relationship with other trees or plants.

Pterocarpus santalinus, is a species from southern India, which was originally used as a dye material and also a spice in many Medieval Europe and South Asian recipes..

This tree is valued for the rich red color of its wood.

The wood is not
the aromatic Yellow Sandalwood, Santalum album, that is also native to South India.

The above two species are considered threatened or endangered.

Today we use the species Pterocarpus soyauxii for fabric and fiber dye, food dye, as a spice, and some Ayurvedic medicinal uses.

The dye in Red Sandalwood is not water soluble, i.e., it will not dissolve in water.

To extract the dye, one must soak the powder or fine chips in rubbing alcohol .

This liquid is then added to a water dye bath, being cautious as the alcohol is flammable.

Wool Yarn Dyed with Red Sandalwood

As with all natural dyes, colors will be effected by the mordant used to make the dye colorfast.The above wool yarn was dyed with Red Sandalwood and the mordants used are from top to bottom:Alum, Tin, and Chrome